The iPhone 5 has overtaken the Samsung Galaxy S3 to become Britain's favourite smartphone, an online comparison website said today.

Apple's latest gadget took top spot in March, just six months after it went on sale, according to uSwitch.com.

The S3 - the UK's No1 handset for 10months - dropped to third place while fans of the South Korean company wait for the latest model to hit the shelves.

Its successor - the S4 - was unveiled on March 14 and is at second.

The popular Galaxy range still dominates the chart, with four places in the top 10, according to the uSwitch.com Mobile Tracker, which is based on searches, pre-orders and sales through the website.

The company said more than four times as many iPhone 5 handsets as S3 phones were sold through their website.

Apple takes a further three places, with the iPhone 4s climbing five spots to second most popular handset in March.

Initial interest for the Sony Xperia Z, which entered the chart at number two in February, waned last month as the phone slipped two places.

March's new entry, the HTC One, which doubles as a remote control and only went on sale last month, immediately became the fifth most popular smartphone.

Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com, said: "It's not just early adopters that are holding out for the Samsung Galaxy S4 to hit the shelves. Since the Korean manufacturer's new flagship device was announced in mid-March, the S3's popularity has already faded enough for not one but two iPhones to get ahead. That's a big deal for the smartphone that has managed to spend 10 long months at the top of the smartphone table.

"Although it's still Apple versus Samsung at the top of the chart, there is plenty of mid-table contention between flagship efforts of other manufacturers, including Sony, HTC and LG."

Mr Doku said the most popular phones will likely change again soon, as Blackberry are hoping to attract sales with their Q10 model and Samsung will introduce new competition with their heavily hyped Galaxy S4.